Dirty Rats

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Dirty Rats is the true story of two of Boston's most powerful brothers - one a gangster, the other a politician - as they rose from poverty in a public-housing project to the pinnacles of power in their respective trades. Howie Carr, author of two New York Times bestsellers about Boston organized crime and their victims, unravels the brothers' sordid web of corruption and homicide that still haunts Boston to this day.

Dirty Rats is the true story of two of Boston's most powerful brothers - one a gangster, the other a politician - as they rose from poverty in a public-housing project to the pinnacles of power in their respective trades. Howie Carr, author of two New York Times bestsellers about Boston organized crime and their victims, unravels the brothers' sordid web of corruption and homicide that still haunts Boston to this day.

Dirty Rats is the true story of two of Boston's most powerful brothers - one a gangster, the other a politician - as they rose from poverty in a public-housing project to the pinnacles of power in their respective trades. Howie Carr, author of two New York Times bestsellers about Boston organized crime and their victims, unravels the brothers' sordid web of corruption and homicide that still haunts Boston to this day.

Episodes

The first of those victims was Arthur "Bucky" Barrett. His murder would go down as one of the gang's most cruel and unnecessary killings. Even Stevie "the Rifleman" Flemmi later claimed he was shocked by Whitey's brutality.

A native of South Boston like the Bulger brothers, he handled their dirty work for a quarter century, becoming a multi-millionaire on a policeman's salary. As a decorated G-man, he made training videos for the FBI academy, which you will hear, instructing young agents how to handle organized-crime informants. At the same time, though, he was tipping his underworld paymaster Whitey to informants so that they could be murdered.
"Never try to out-gangster a gangster," Connolly said, but now...

A native of South Boston like the Bulger brothers, he handled their dirty work for a quarter century, becoming a multi-millionaire on a policeman's salary. As a decorated G-man, he made training videos for the FBI academy, which you will hear, instructing young agents how to handle organized-crime informants. At the same time, though, he was tipping his underworld paymaster Whitey to informants so that they could be murdered.
"Never try to out-gangster a gangster," Connolly said, but now...

Deb Davis was a beautiful blonde who dreamed of becoming a model, and of escaping from the clutches of her boyfriend, who last year admitted in federal court to taking part, in one way or another, to more than 60 murders.
But Stevie, 23 years her senior, was insanely jealous, and Whitey didn't much like women, period. So Deb Davis had to die, in the most grisly fashion imaginable.
Davis was strangled to death in Stevie's home, which was a few feet away from Billy Bulger's house in Southie....

Whitey and Billy Bulger terrorized and corrupted Boston for more than 30 years -- Whitey as a serial-killing, cocaine-dealing mob boss on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and his younger brother Billy as the president of the Massachusetts state senate, the most powerful politician in the state.
Each one's sinister power reinforced the other's -- as you will hear a former mayor of Boston say of Billy, "If my brother threatened to kill you, you'd be nothing but nice to me."
This podcast is the...